Where you left me

Two love stories with healing in between, this book is an account of the events of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath. Lucky, that is how the author would describe herself. She had a successful law career, met the love of her life in Doug, married him, had an apartment in New York City, a house in the Hamptons, two beautiful children, and was still madly in love after nearly seven years of marriage. She was living the kind of idyllic life that cliches are made of until Doug was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. She became a widow at age thirty five, a "9/11 widow", no less, a member of a select group bound by sorrow, of which she wanted no part. Though completely devastated, she still considered herself blessed. Doug had loved her enough to last her a lifetime, and after his sudden death, she was done with the idea of romantic love, fully resigned to being a widowed single mother until a chance encounter with a gregarious stranger changed everything. Without a clue how to handle this unexpected turn of events, she faced the question asked by anyone who has ever lost a loved one: Is it really possible to feel joy again, let alone love? With unvarnished emotion and clear eyed sardonic humor, she tells an ordinary woman's extraordinary tale of unimaginable loss, resilience, friendship, love, and healing, which is also New York City's narrative in the wake of September 11. This is an unlikely love story, a quintessentially New York story, the author's tribute to the city that gave her everything and proof that second chances are possible.